


leave no distance

by exohousewarming, minijhi



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Doting Mystery Do Kyungsoo, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 11:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12341691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exohousewarming/pseuds/exohousewarming, https://archiveofourown.org/users/minijhi/pseuds/minijhi
Summary: Kyungsoo writes riddles in lieu of love letters; Baekhyun traces their relationship back five years.





	leave no distance

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #405. One of the first exo fics I ever read was a domestic baeksoo, and they've since been the housewarming couple of my heart ♥ Inspired by the [fan](https://twitter.com/serenadyo/status/897329046995980290) [accounts](http://fydk-translations.tumblr.com/post/164237363512/170815-the-war-fansign-kyungsoo-fanaccounts) where kyungsoo wrote abstract sentences from books and movies and all of them translated into ‘I love you.’ I hope you enjoy!

_I have read about such a route home in a novel._

_\- “Sleet,” Ki Hyung-do_

_\--_

When Baekhyun touches down in O'Hare for the first time in ten months, there’s nothing he’d like more than to see his boyfriend again. Which is why, when he spots Chanyeol waiting for him in arrivals with a huge smile on his face, Baekhyun steps on his foot.

“Ow, what was that for?” Chanyeol yelps.

“Where’s Kyungsoo?”

“He had stuff to do.” Chanyeol says, reaching for Baekhyun’s suitcase, massaging his foot with the other hand. “I can’t believe you stepped on me. You guys saw each other _two weeks_ ago when he visited. Don’t I, the best friend you haven’t seen in a year, deserve a nice hug?”

Baekhyun drags him in for a hug, distressed to find that Chanyeol seems even taller than before he left.

“What stuff? He didn’t mention any stuff when we spoke last night.” Baekhyun persists. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, but the last message from Kyungsoo is still the one he sent right before Baekhyun boarded his flight.

“It’s a surprise.” Chanyeol says uselessly, then backtracks and says, “Ironing, I mean. He said he had shirts to iron.”

“Ironing." Baekhyun repeats.

Chanyeol magically slides a granola bar out the sleeve of his oversized sweater, as if a sudden sleight of hand will make Baekhyun forget everything else he’s said. He tosses the snack at Baekhyun. “Kyungsoo made me buy this. He says there’ll be proper food for you at home, so let’s get going, alright?”

Baekhyun tears the wrapping open and inhales half the bar.

“He better feed me on his knees.” Baekhyun grumbles, watching as Chanyeol struggles with the stubborn wheels of his suitcase.

Chanyeol shoots him a pained look. “I did not need to know this about your relationship, Baekhyun.”

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun reaches for the handle of his suitcase and throws his duffel at Chanyeol instead. Chanyeol beams.

\--

Kyungsoo isn’t waiting to greet him in their apartment either, and Baekhyun makes sure to drag his suitcase over Kyungsoo’s pristine floor when he enters.

There is a large pink handmade card taped to the bedroom door.

WELCOME HOME, BAEKHYUN  
1\.  SHOWER  
2\.  FOOD IN THE KITCHEN

Baekhyun tilts his head and stares at it. It’s Kyungsoo’s handiwork for sure, even though it resembles a second-grade Valentine’s assignment. The glitter is lined up neatly— Baekhyun suspects Kyungsoo had used a ruler.

He reads the card again, but there doesn’t seem to be a hidden meaning to it. Shrugging, Baekhyun pushes the bedroom door open.

It’s strange being back after so long, Baekhyun thinks, as he rummages for a change of clothes. Technically it’s Kyungsoo’s apartment, but in those last few months before Baekhyun left, he let his lease expire and moved his things in, even though he could have easily driven them home in Chanyeol’s car. Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows when the boxes kept showing up, but he held the door open and everything, so there was that.

The apartment looks almost the same as it had before, as though no time has passed, but little by little Baekhyun notices tiny details, for instance, the nightstand being moved from the left side of the bed to the right. Sogeum the stuffed-poodle is tucked into Baekhyun’s side of the bed, and Baekhyun scrambles to his feet.

Dropping his clothes onto the desk, Baekhyun hurries out the bedroom door. He hadn’t seen Meokmul and Huchu when he walked in, and scans the shelves, chewing on his lower lip.

“He finally threw you guys out.” Baekhyun says sadly, peering at the empty space where they used to sit. Meokmul and Huchu were little crocheted dolls Baekhyun had tried to make for Kyungsoo years ago, when he’d caught Kyungsoo watching knitting videos in the kitchen, his low laughter echoing through the apartment when Baekhyun walked in. Baekhyun watched him for ten whole minutes before Kyungsoo looked up and noticed Baekhyun, his wide eyes crinkled with happiness.

The next day, Baekhyun dragged Chanyeol to the mall, and they’d spent the rest of the weekend learning to crochet. The end products had been two amigurumi attempts that looked even less like dogs than the original balls of yarn, and Meokmul was missing a leg. Kyungsoo laughed that wonderful laugh again and kissed him on both cheeks when he peered into the giftbox.

“They’re terrible.” Kyungsoo said, but he put them on the shelf anyway, two little dogs on either side of his first-ever film trophy. For months after that, it’d been the first thing Baekhyun saw whenever he visited Kyungsoo’s apartment.

Baekhyun sighs, pulling away from the shelf.

The card is still taped to the bedroom door.

WELCOME HOME, BAEKHYUN  
1\.  SHOWER  
2\.  FOOD IN THE KITCHEN

Baekhyun steps under the shower and takes a deep breath.

\--

There’s nothing exciting in the shower, which— shame, but there is a container of chicken katsu and a pink envelope sitting in the kitchen when Baekhyun moves to the second task on the agenda. Baekhyun cups his hands around the food, and finds it warm.

“Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun calls, backtracking into the hallway. “Are you in here? The food’s hot, you can stop hiding now.”

No one shows.

Balefully, he returns to the kitchen and picks up the envelope, shaking the contents onto the table. There’s a train pass, a library card and a folded note.  Kyungsoo’s face smiles at him from the library card, and Baekhyun can’t resist smiling back.

He reads the note as he’s eating his food.

 _Where there is nothing there is everything_  
_You find meaning even though you followed without a purpose_  
_People with conviction_  
_Never get thirsty however long they journey_

“What.” Baekhyun mumbles.

He turns the note over, but the rest of it is blank.

Baekhyun stares at the items all through lunch, gnawing absently at his spoon. He takes his eyes away to carry the empty food container to the sink, leaning over the note again as he dries his hands on the dishtowel.

“You find meaning even though you followed without a purpose.” Baekhyun repeats. He places his thumb over Kyungsoo’s face on the library card.

“Kyungsoo, I just took a shower! I’m not going anywhere.” Baekhyun whines.

There’s no one in the apartment to respond.

Grumbling, Baekhyun retreats to the bedroom to put on some socks. He glances at himself briefly in the mirror, before deciding that if Kyungsoo’s going to send Baekhyun out in the middle of the city, when all Baekhyun wants to do is stay home and cuddle, then he’ll have to deal with Baekhyun’s ugly sweatshirt.

\--

The public library Kyungsoo goes to is five stations from the apartment, and when Baekhyun wanders in he’s struck by an unexpected sense of fond familiarity. Baekhyun isn’t a library person but he’s been coming here for almost as long as he’s known Kyungsoo— at first, to see the boy with the thick-rimmed glasses; afterwards, so he could hold Kyungsoo’s hand underneath the table and earn Kyungsoo’s pleased smile for every half-hour he could stay silent.

Baekhyun’s face falls when he doesn’t see Kyungsoo at their usual table, but pauses to slide into his chair anyway. The large tree outside the window, in full bloom before Baekhyun left, barely has any leaves now.

“I’ll come back with Kyungsoo one of these days, hang in there.” Baekhyun promises it, and as he stands to go, he catches sight of something poking out of the table’s lampshade.

Baekhyun ducks his head under the lamp to look, and finds a pink card taped to the inside of the lampshade. Baekhyun peels it off incredulously.

 _How many times have you come to the library to pick me up only to find me engrossed in a book? You often say you don’t understand poetry, but ever since meeting you, to me they made more sense than ever._  
_I’ve left something for you at the circulation desk._

It's a book, written entirely in Japanese.

Baekhyun frowns down at it, trying to decipher the children’s drawing of an upside-down seagull on the cover.

“There’s a movie based on that novel,” Offers the circulation-desk girl, leaning forward on her elbows to look. “I can’t remember the name but it was about a Japanese café in… Helsinki?”

Baekhyun does a double take. “Kamome Diner?”

She brightens. “That’s right! Have you seen it?”

Baekhyun laughs, book clutched tightly to his chest. “Yeah, I’ve seen it.”

\--

Kyungsoo’s favorite movies were all quiet ones, with fishing boats and farmhouses and main characters with no last name. When they first started watching movies together, Baekhyun liked to look at Kyungsoo instead, the lights of the television sifting gently over the planes of his skin. Kyungsoo was a lot like the movies he watched, beautiful and quiet in an offhand, understated kind of way, and Baekhyun worried for the longest time that maybe they weren’t as compatible as Baekhyun hoped they were.

“You’re noisy,” Kyungsoo had said, when Baekhyun finally revealed these feelings late one night, two-thirds into a bottle of vodka and the truth loose on his tongue. “You’re noisy, but you’re never _too_ noisy. Don’t discredit yourself, Baekhyun, I know you can be serious when you need to be.”

When Baekhyun hadn’t responded, Kyungsoo put his drink down. “I used to think you might prefer someone friendlier, louder, maybe Jongdae or Chanyeol. Do you think I’m too quiet?”

“No, you’re perfect.” Baekhyun answered at once, turning bright red when his brain caught up with his mouth. He chewed on the rim of the bottle, lowering his gaze to his knees. “You’re perfect the way you are.”

The hand that landed on his knee made Baekhyun shiver.

“You’re perfect for me too.” Kyungsoo responded simply. “So let’s not worry about talking too much or too little, okay?”

Even as a child Baekhyun had been a talkative kid, learning quickly that most people warmed up to him faster if he talked easily. He spoke to fill up the silences because he never knew what to do with people if he didn’t talk to them, masterfully weaving the lulls in conversation together with a well-aimed joke or comment.

With Kyungsoo, as he soon found out, there was no need for any of that. All the empty spaces between them were already full.

\--

The movies showing at the theater don’t strike any particular chord with Baekhyun, and Baekhyun doesn’t think Kyungsoo’s sending him to watch a movie alone, anyway. He drifts away from the ticketing booth to read the notices on the bulletin board. There’s a community segment off to the right which Kyungsoo occasionally writes film reviews for, and this month’s article is about food.

 **Recipe For An Autumn’s Day by Kyung-soo Do**  
_As the weather grows colder, I’ve been looking for movies to recommend that would warm the heart, and I spent a long time thinking what genre those might be. Romance? Family? Coming-of-age? By chance, a friend suggested to me that the best way to warm someone’s heart was by filling their stomach._ _With the right ingredients, perhaps it’s the truth. Food can be romance, family and growing up all in one. To me, the most important sentence in the world are the words, “Have you eaten?”_

Baekhyun laughs aloud, fondly. It’s the first thing Kyungsoo asks him almost every time they talk.

He runs his finger down the glass as he reads the rest of the article, smiling at the names. _Kamome Diner, An, Tampopo, Little Forest._ Baekhyun’s watched all of them to some extent, head on Kyungsoo’s lap.

By the time he reaches the bottom of the paper, Baekhyun is none the wiser as to where he should go next. He blows his hair out of his eyes as the wind picks up, glancing around.

“Time for a meal, I guess?” Baekhyun says uncertainly. He looks at the article again and steps towards the concession stand.

Then he remembers, that they’ve never bought food from the theater, because—

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Baekhyun says.

\--

The pub that Jongdae’s parents own is located a block from the movie theater, and Jongdae’s bright yellow hair is visible from the sidewalk.

“What happened to you?” Baekhyun asks, staring at him.

Sticking his tongue out, Jongdae pinches Baekhyun’s cheeks in greeting. There’s flour down the front of his apron and Baekhyun’s face feels distinctively greasier after Jongdae lets go of his cheek.

“We saved you the usual table, Kyungsoo bribed me for it.” Jongdae says, leading Baekhyun to the back of the pub. It’s crowded as always, drawing students from the nearby universities as well as young office workers who’d made it through college surviving on seafood batter, and have yet to move on to greener pastures.

“Take this seat.” Jongdae says, pulling out one of the chairs for Baekhyun. “Kyungsoo specifically told me to make sure you sat here. Along with a whole list of things I was supposed to do.”

Baekhyun grins at him. “I’m familiar with the feeling.”

“Change the flowers, single okonomiyaki, don’t give him any more I don’t want to ruin his dinner, hot tea if the weather’s below sixty—” Jongdae recites, shaking his head. He sweeps the small vase of fresh flowers to the side of the table.

Jongdae disappears to clear a space for some new customers, and Baekhyun takes a look around. Very little has changed since the pub first opened two years ago, but the exposed brick walls have been completely covered with polaroids of smiling customers in the year Baekhyun’s been gone. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are on here somewhere, perhaps several times over.

His mouth is full of food, gaze wandering around the store when his eyes land on a polaroid of Kyungsoo he’s never seen before. Kyungsoo’s face is half-turned towards the camera with a smile, and scribbled at the side, in fluorescent pink marker are the words, ‘ _turn over_.’

Mouth falling open, Baekhyun reaches over the table and plucks the photograph off the wall.

 _Hello Baekhyunnie, I knew you would find this. Somehow you always end up choosing me, even in a sea of a hundred other people. My favorite photo of you was taken in this restaurant, I finally stole it when Jongdae wasn’t looking and I’ve been carrying it around with me ever since._  
_I can’t wait to see you again._

Baekhyun turns the polaroid around to press a tiny kiss to polaroid-Kyungsoo’s face. Beneath the words ‘turn over,’ Kyungsoo has written: “ _Brightness,” Kim Yeong Nang, 1935_.

Baekhyun grabs his phone and looks it up.

 _I hunger after this brightness._  
_I have been in my room, door shut, breathing at the walls._  
_Just then, plop, a camellia seed falls._  
_Oh! The first ray of sunshine comes bursting through,_  
_last night’s flow of starlight expelled from the sky._  
_Warmly refreshed by this brightness, my heart_  
_has found the home it will never leave again._

Baekhyun reads the entire poem several times, chin resting on one hand. He takes one of the neon markers from the repurposed tin can, drawing hearts over Kyungsoo’s face. He’s still doodling absently, chewing on the cap of the marker, when Jongdae returns.

“Byun Baekhyun, reading poetry in my restaurant.” Jongdae says, resting his chin atop Baekhyun’s head. Baekhyun closes the tab before Jongdae can tease him any further. “And you thought _I_ was the changed man.”

“Are you trying to decipher one of Kyungsoo’s poems?” Jongdae asks. “He comes by and recites sad poetry a lot when he misses you. How did that long-distance one go again? _So it’s raining over there, it is bright and sunny here—_ seriously, I heard it every night for a week.”

Baekhyun doesn’t reply. He’s watching a figure with his head bowed three tables over, cap pulled low over his eyes. The black jacket he’s wearing looks like it came straight out of Baekhyun’s wardrobe.

“Kyungsoo?”

The man ducks his head quickly, spilling tea over the table, and Baekhyun looks at Jongdae, confused. “Is that—?” He begins, but Jongdae is turned away from him, shoulders shaking with laughter.

Maybe-Kyungsoo is halfway out the door when Baekhyun glances back towards the table. Baekhyun yells a hasty goodbye to Jongdae, hurrying towards the exit.

The streets are crowded with people, but there is no trace of the mystery person. Baekhyun scans the passing faces with a sinking heart. “Kyungsoo? Why’re you running from me?” Baekhyun asks unhappily.

Kyungsoo is gone, and a wave of exhaustion crashes over Baekhyun. He doesn’t know what he’s doing or how many more clues he’ll have to puzzle through, and sooner or later Baekhyun’s going to run into a riddle he can’t solve. Maybe he’s never going to find Kyungsoo again.

Baekhyun blinks back the tears threatening to well in his eyes, and all of a sudden a pair of arms envelope him from behind, causing Baekhyun to stumble. He breathes in Kyungsoo’s soft tuberose fragrance, and lets his entire body sag against Kyungsoo’s chest with relief.

“I thought I lost you.”

“Never.” Kyungsoo says, pulling Baekhyun to a side alley, his fingers squeezing over Baekhyun’s sides. Baekhyun curls a hand around Kyungsoo’s waist, and reaches up to tug the cap off so he can see Kyungsoo’s face clearly. Kyungsoo’s lips quirk upward and he leans in until their foreheads knock together.

“Hi.” He murmurs, and kisses Baekhyun.

Baekhyun throws himself into the kiss, _hi, hello, I miss you, I want you_ , and Kyungsoo responds to each one without having to say a word, tasting of sweet tea, okonomiyaki and everything Baekhyun’s ever wanted.

“Welcome back, Baekhyunnie, I’ve missed you.” Kyungsoo says tenderly, when they finally break apart. His voice is soft, barely inches apart as they are, and it makes Baekhyun’s heart do a weird sort of swoop.

“Let’s go home, I’ve won, I found you.” Baekhyun says, tilting his head to close that tiny distance for another kiss. He can feel Kyungsoo smiling, fingers combing through his hair. Baekhyun is never going away ever again.

“You’re not done. You weren’t supposed to see me here.” Kyungsoo says, pausing somewhere between kiss number two and two hundred. He readjusts the cap over his head and peeks at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun’s heartbeat stutters, and he seizes Kyungsoo into his arms. “You were waiting to see me! Because you couldn’t stay away! Because you lo-o-o-ve me!”

“Because I love you.” Kyungsoo agrees, and a fizzling warmth settles over Baekhyun’s skin like a pop-candy blanket.

“Let’s go home.”

“You’re almost done, so finish up. I’ve got a nice surprise for you at the end of this.” Kyungsoo promises.

Baekhyun’s torn between giddiness and disappointment. “Are you making dinner? What are you making?”

“What do you want to eat?”

“Steak.” Baekhyun says immediately.

“Then we’re having that.” Kyungsoo says. He kisses the corner of Baekhyun’s mouth, above his mole. “Your face is cold, are you cold? Why aren’t you dressed properly?”

Before Baekhyun knows what’s happening, he’s wearing Kyungsoo’s jacket over his ratty sweatshirt, and Kyungsoo shushes him when he protests. Kyungsoo pulls away. “I’m going home. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

Baekhyun swipes his tongue over his bottom lip. “I have a confession to make. You know those books you told me to read? I probably read less than half of them. I’m not going to understand all these clues, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow at him. “I know which ones you read and which ones you didn’t. You can do this, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun reluctantly loosens his hold as Kyungsoo attempts to get away again. There are riddles to solve, places to be. Apparently Baekhyun is _almost done_ , but still. Baekhyun wonders if Kyungsoo would notice if he slid a tiny bit closer, for a few more minutes. Maybe he could pretend to accidentally brush against Kyungsoo’s hand—

Kyungsoo blinks at him, surprised, but instead of moving away like Baekhyun expects, he laces their fingers together and squeezes gently.

“Walk me to the next clue location?” Baekhyun asks.

“Okay.” Kyungsoo says.

\--

By the time Kyungsoo leaves him at the edge of the park, Baekhyun’s vibrating with happiness, warmth lingering in his hand and on his cheek, where Kyungsoo had kissed him goodbye. He cuts through the pathways of sleeping flowers, making temporary camp at a small stone fountain to open the pink envelope they’d retrieved from Jongdae.

 _south, where the sea and the stars collide_  
_what are you afraid of?_  
_let’s be brave, baekhyun_

“No poem?” Baekhyun says aloud. Dipping his fingertips into the freezing water from the fountain, he runs a thumb over the words just to see the ink smudge, oddly satisfied when it doesn’t.

There’s music coming from an adjacent garden. Folding the note back into his pocket, Baekhyun follows the attentive plucking of a guitar being tuned to find two boys setting up their instruments on a podium. They’re young, maybe in college, and Baekhyun pauses to listen as they work through the chorus of an old country song.

It’s been awhile since he and Kyungsoo have sung together, but they have, here on this very stage. He can still hear the applause from that night, Chanyeol and Jongdae whooping from the front row.

They have so many memories in this city: kisses, quarrels and everything in-between. On the way to every location that Kyungsoo singles out, Baekhyun runs into half-a-dozen more, at street corners, on park benches.

Beyond the edge of the park along the curve of the wharf, Baekhyun remembers the day he’d known, with absolute certainty that Kyungsoo would be with him for the long run. He’d turned off his phone and walked that day, looking for solace in a life that was spiraling too quickly out of his hands. He didn’t think that the others would notice his absence, but they had, and worry had escalated into panic by the evening.

In the end it was Kyungsoo who found him, the then-boyfriend of six months who sometimes still tensed when Baekhyun reached for his hand. He’d found Baekhyun when no one else had, and when he settled down beside Baekhyun without a word and took Baekhyun’s hand, the screaming of the world subsided.

Baekhyun pushes to his feet.

It’s time for him to find Kyungsoo, now.

\--

Just before he reaches the planetarium at the end of the road, Baekhyun comes to a screeching halt before the final clue. Ghastly red letters drip down over the side of a tattered wooden door, and Baekhyun is not liking where this is going a single bit.

Giving Kyungsoo the benefit of the doubt, Baekhyun takes a hesitant step through the opening in the chain link fence. The dread intensifies.

“Nope. No way. I’m not going in there.” Baekhyun says. It’s been a lovely trip down memory lane, but _no thank you, Kyungsoo_ , this is one event Baekhyun would much rather forget.

“Ticket for one?” A ghost asks Baekhyun, popping up from the vicinity of his left elbow. Baekhyun yells so loudly the bloodied bundle of cloth stumbles backwards, startled, and Baekhyun collides with the sturdy chest of a passerby in his attempt to get away.

“Sorry.” Baekhyun manages, looking up.

It’s a tall young man with a beautifully chiseled face, and Baekhyun takes a hasty step away. The blond sculpture frowns at Baekhyun, and another person comes up behind Baekhyun, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady him. He turns, reeling from the encounter, and finds another figure looming over him, three piercings down the side of one ear and a sharp, calculating gaze.

Baekhyun prays the inside of the haunted house won’t get any scarier than this.

“Going in alone?” The blond says with a friendly smile. It transforms his entire face into something almost as adorable as Kyungsoo’s, and Baekhyun stares. “You can tag along with us if you’re scared.”

“I’m not alone.” Baekhyun protests, even though it’s glaringly obvious that he is. At this rate, dinner is going to be Baekhyun sitting alone at a table for two, with only another cryptic letter for company.

“You can go in with Sehun.” The young man with piercings suggests. “I’ll wait outside.”

“Nice try, but you wanted to do this so you don’t embarrass yourself again this year, remember? We have passes for the entire month.” Sehun says to Baekhyun. “So if you want to join us you should go get your tickets. We’re about to head in.”

“Why are we friends.” Sehun’s friend moans. He looks and sounds even more terrified than Baekhyun, which makes Baekhyun feel marginally better about himself.

Baekhyun watches as a couple emerges from the exit, clinging tightly to each other. They’re trembling from head to toe, faces pale, and Baekhyun shudders. Kyungsoo had been with him the last time, screaming and laughing as Baekhyun whimpered and left a sizable patch of saliva on Kyungsoo’s shirt.

Baekhyun loves Kyungsoo’s unwavering faith in his ability to overcome obstacles, but there’s no way Baekhyun is going to make it through this one.

The collection of notes rustle when Baekhyun shoves his hands into his pockets. Baekhyun pulls out the polaroid photo of Kyungsoo he’d taken from Jongdae’s restaurant, looking down at it for several moments.

Sehun and his friend have already entered the haunted house, and Baekhyun is certain he can hear one of them screaming.

“For you, Kyungsoo.” He mumbles to himself.

Determined, Baekhyun storms over to the counter.

\--

Twenty minutes later, Baekhyun has made zero headway in finding the pink envelope. In Kyungsoo’s defense, Baekhyun has not been looking since the moment he stepped foot into the house and was welcomed by a headless ghoul.

Baekhyun huddles in a corner as the antique telephone on the desk begins to ring. Through a dirty glass window, Baekhyun sees the figure lying on an infirmary bed stir. Baekhyun melds himself against the wall, tucking his knees to his chest. He unlocks his phone shakily, hitting the speed dial for Kyungsoo’s number.

When Kyungsoo doesn’t pick up his call, Baekhyun feels his soul leave his body. Fumbling for a voice message, Baekhyun leans into the phone to speak over the low groaning coming from the drawers.

“Kyungsoo, how could you make me do this? I’ve been chased by so many headless things, I’m dying in here. I’m absolutely certain there are actual ghosts around too, something _dripped_ on me and there was a clown—” The message ends with a loud shriek as someone rests a hand on his head.

It’s the two young men from earlier, Sehun looking down at him in concern with the other peering over his shoulder.

“Look, I could hear you screaming from upstairs, do you need help getting out?” Sehun asks.

“I can’t leave, I’m looking for something my boyfriend left me.” Baekhyun says gloomily.

“Does your boyfriend make a habit of leaving you things in haunted houses?”

“Zitao, don’t be insensitive.” Sehun hisses.

Baekhyun stands, having been craning his neck to talk to them while he was crouched in a ball on the ground. As he does, something falls into his hair.

Baekhyun meets Sehun’s wide eyes.

“What was that?”

Sehun shakes his head quickly. “It’s nothing. Walk towards me slowly, and don’t look up.”

Baekhyun feels the weight of something else fall onto him, tiny legs scrabbling against his scalp and down his back. Baekhyun closes his eyes and barrels towards Sehun, whimpering.

“Get it out get it out—”

“Calm down, it's not real!” Zitao says, which is a riot because he looks nearly as terrified as Baekhyun, and he isn't even the one being attacked. Baekhyun grabs a plastic spider from his hair and flings it at Zitao. Sehun’s laughing, and Baekhyun wants to shove a spider down his shirt, but Sehun’s also kindly helping to pluck the things off him, so Baekhyun decides against it.

“I can’t do this. Can we go straight to the exit?” Baekhyun asks, face buried in the back of Sehun’s jacket. He hopes for Sehun’s sake that it’s waterproof. “Can we please leave?”

“I suppose if we _have_ to.” Zitao says. Something thuds loudly above them, and Baekhyun’s ears don’t stop ringing from Zitao’s shriek for the next five minutes.

\--

Sehun leads them through the haunted house safely, his fingers the sole casualty. Baekhyun sucks in a deep breath the moment they are outside, disoriented to see that the sky is light, albeit slowly fading into night.

As his vision struggles to readjust to the sunlight, Baekhyun snaps a photo of his and Sehun’s linked hands and sends it to Kyungsoo.  _‘U nearly killed me. But a pretty knight rescued me and we’re going to run away together. I hope you’re happy.'_ Baekhyun writes, and he’s barely let go of Sehun’s hand before his phone buzzes with a reply.

It’s a picture message, a crooked selfie of Kyungsoo’s face scrunched up in a sad-looking pout, and Baekhyun flails.

“Look!” He says, shoving the screen into Sehun’s face. “Isn’t he the cutest?”

“Two minutes ago you wanted to break up with him.” Sehun says.

“I’m going to break up with _you_.” Zitao says. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this every week.”

“I can’t believe you do this every week and you’re still scared.” Baekhyun says. Zitao flicks Baekhyun’s shoulder, hard.

“Hey, didn’t you say you were looking for a pink envelope?” Sehun asks. He takes a few steps back to the ticketing counter, peering up at a gruesome illuminated signboard of screaming zombies. There, sitting neatly inside the ‘U’ of ‘RUN,’ is the very envelope Baekhyun lost ten years of his life trying to find.

Zitao snatches it out of Sehun’s hand the moment he returns.

“Hey!”

Three heads bow over the note.

There’s no poem, no vague love letter. Instead, there’s an address.

Zitao sulks, disappointed.

“That’s about a fifteen-minute drive from here.” Sehun says. He glances around, and says, “Taxi?”

Baekhyun knows there’s a taxi stand across the road from the park. “Maybe.” He says. Zitao keeps inspecting the note, hoping to find a love story somewhere between the street name and the zip code.

“I thought you said there were poems.” Zitao says sadly when Baekhyun takes the note back from him.

“There _were_.” Baekhyun starts, and forgets what else he meant to say.

Someone is crossing the road towards them, and Baekhyun blinks several times to reassure himself it’s not another apparition.

“You came for me!” he exclaims, when the person finally reaches them.  Zitao excitedly digs his nails into Sehun’s arm in the background.

“I got your voice message.” Kyungsoo says, looking Baekhyun up and down, as though making sure he’s in one piece. “I didn’t mean for you to go in there, was the envelope not noticeable enough?”

“I didn’t look at the sign.” Baekhyun says. “It scared me.”

“My poor Baekhyunnie.” Kyungsoo laughs, petting Baekhyun’s mussed hair. Baekhyun hopes a plastic spider bites him. They bid goodbye to Sehun and a grinning Zitao, making their way across the street where a line of cabs are waiting.

“You’re wearing a suit.” Baekhyun notices, once his pupils have returned to their normal size. Beaming, he runs his hand down Kyungsoo’s chest admiringly. “You look really nice.”

“You like it? I ironed this afternoon.”

Baekhyun nods. “An entire specimen, a man who can iron his own suits and look this good in them.” He pauses, looking down at his own clothes. The hole in his sweatshirt is about the size of his entire hand now. “Wait, why _are_ you wearing a suit?”

Kyungsoo blinks at him innocently.

“I swear, Kyungsoo, if you take me to a fancy restaurant and propose to me while I’m wearing this—“ gesturing wildly at himself, “I’m going to say no.”

“Luckily I wasn’t planning on proposing today then.” Kyungsoo hums, tugging Baekhyun along. “But I’ll keep that in mind for next week.”

Baekhyun can’t help the laugh that escapes him. Kyungsoo meets his gaze, pleased, and smiles.

“I just wanted to look good for you.” Kyungsoo says, batting his eyelashes. He pulls the cab door open, waiting for Baekhyun to get in. “A good boyfriend in a pretty suit, to cure you of all those horrifying things you saw in the haunted house.”

Baekhyun gives a dramatic sigh. “It’s not enough. You’ve killed me. I’ve become a ghost and no longer have a corporeal form. What use do I have for cabs? I might as well fly everywhere.”

Kyungsoo snorts, but Baekhyun can hear the fondness in it. “I’m sorry you went into the haunted house by yourself, please get into the car, Baekhyun?”

“What do I get—” Baekhyun begins.

Without waiting for the rest of the sentence, Kyungsoo shoves Baekhyun's very, very corporeal ass into the cab and climbs in after him.

\--

The cab drops them off outside an apartment building with a brick façade and an elaborate wrought iron gate. As soon as Kyungsoo unlatches the gate, Baekhyun hurries through it, skipping up the steps towards the fountain. Unlike the empty fountain in the park, there are bright orange fishes swimming circles in this one, and Kyungsoo has to forcibly extract Baekhyun from them.

“I recognize this place!” Baekhyun whispers, once they’re in the elevator. “This is where Junmyeon lives, isn’t it? Are we visiting him?”

Kyungsoo shoots him a disbelieving stare. “What is wrong with you? Why would I be bringing you to Junmyeon’s apartment for our romantic reunion dinner?”

“You brought me to a bunch of other weird places today, I don’t see why this is particularly different.” Baekhyun points out. He nuzzles against Kyungsoo’s cheek in apology, resisting the urge to nibble on Kyungsoo’s earlobe.

“I love his apartment.” Baekhyun continues, still in a reverent whisper. “Does he know we’re coming?”

Kyungsoo smacks a hand over Baekhyun’s mouth to silence him. The elevator dings open, and Baekhyun comes to the conclusion that they’re nowhere close to Junmyeon’s apartment, after all.

He has no time to conjure a new theory, for Kyungsoo is already unlocking a door and leading Baekhyun through it. It’s dark inside the apartment, and Baekhyun catches a brief glimpse of the nightscape beyond the glass windows before the lights come flooding on, revealing a cozy, immaculate interior.

There’s minimal amount of furniture, tv missing from the stand and shelves empty, but the things that are present are beautifully arranged within the space. Baekhyun’s gaze falls on the arched lamp over the sofa that Kyungsoo’s been talking about getting for years, and the marble fireplace Baekhyun so coveted from Junmyeon’s apartment.

Licking his lips, he asks hesitantly, “Whose apartment is this?”

“Whose apartment is this? Should this have been another riddle?” Kyungsoo drops the keys into a bowl sitting on the tall shoe cabinet, nudging open one of the drawers to place his shoes in them. It looks so natural, like he’s done this numerous times before. “Come on, Baekhyun, you know whose apartment this is.”

Baekhyun’s legs turn to jelly as he stares blindly at the bowl of keys, fuzziness overtaking him.

It’s Meokmul and Huchu. The failed crochet dogs, they’re here, standing beside the bowl. Kyungsoo hadn’t thrown them away. He’s put them in all their bedraggled glory, by the doorway where anyone could walk in and see them, here in an apartment Baekhyun’s never seen before, yet is everything he’s ever dreamed of.

Baekhyun turns to Kyungsoo, swallowing.

He opens his mouth to speak, cut off by a pattering of excited footsteps from deeper in the apartment. Kyungsoo gently turns him around.

“Mongryong.” Baekhyun breathes.

He drops to his knees and the corgi launches into his arms, smothering him with delighted licks. Baekhyun buries his face in the dog’s fur, tears gathering in his eyes as he kneels on the ground. He senses Kyungsoo crouching down beside him, and Kyungsoo’s hand comes to rest on the base of his neck.

“I picked him up from your parents’ place last week.” Kyungsoo says, drawing his fingers together in a soothing motion over Baekhyun’s neck. “I think he likes our new apartment. Do you, Baekhyun?”

“Our new—” Baekhyun attempts, and his voice cracks. “This is— I mean—”

Mongryong’s fur does little to hide his sob.

Immediately, Kyungsoo’s arms are around him, rubbing up and down his back. “Do you not like it? Is it too much? You kept talking about Junmyeon’s apartment, and when this came on the market right before you were due to come back, I thought it was a sign. It doesn’t matter, it’s fine, please don’t cry, Baekhyun.”

Kyungsoo’s rambling, Baekhyun notes.

Baekhyun releases Mongryong and the dog skitters away, out of sight. He’ll return in a minute with a bone he wants to share with Baekhyun, but meanwhile:

“Stupid.” Baekhyun says, kissing Kyungsoo into the back of the couch. “For someone who knows everything about me, you sure don’t know anything at all.”

\--

They have dinner in the kitchen because the dining table isn’t moved in. The steak is every bit as good as Baekhyun remembers, and he ends up nearly biting off one of Kyungsoo’s fingers when they take turns feeding one another the scraps. Mongryong sits in Baekhyun's lap the entire time, and Baekhyun couldn't be happier.

Kyungsoo tells him to look around while he does the dishes, but Baekhyun stays by Kyungsoo’s side, dutifully stacking the washed plates onto the drying rack and playing with the penguin-shaped soap dispenser.

“I’m sorry I stepped on your foot.” Baekhyun says when he looks into the study, at Chanyeol’s impossibly expensive housewarming gift, and Kyungsoo wraps his arms around Baekhyun’s waist, his chin on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

It turns out to not matter the least bit that they don’t have a television.

Hours later, Baekhyun pulls back the covers of the bed and crawls beside Kyungsoo with a tired noise. He shoves his cold feet against Kyungsoo’s calves.

“Don’t do that.” Kyungsoo grouses, but he doesn't move away. Moonlight falls over the sheets in bizarre shapes. Every feature of his face stands out beneath the light of the moon, but Baekhyun doesn’t need an ounce of light to see Kyungsoo in the darkness.

“The moon’s too bright.” Baekhyun says, shifting his feet to Kyungsoo’s thighs once his calves lose their warmth. “Why didn’t you get us curtains? How did you manage to sleep in here?”

“I forgot.” Kyungsoo says absently. He’s playing with the top button of Baekhyun’s pajamas, but the gesture is innocent. He finally lets go so he can stare up at the moon, side by side on their backs. It feels a lot like they’re outdoors, stargazing. “I haven’t slept here yet.”

Baekhyun blinks. “What do you mean you haven’t slept here? Didn’t you move in with Mongryong a week ago?”

“We’ve been sleeping back at the old apartment.” Kyungsoo confesses. “I wanted my first night here to be with you.”

Baekhyun laughs, and rolls out of bed with a thump. Kyungsoo props himself up, startled.

“I wrote you something too.” Baekhyun says, sliding the closet door open and digging through the pockets of Kyungsoo’s jacket. He returns to bed with a crumpled napkin, smoothing it over his lap quickly before holding it out.

Kyungsoo reads slowly, expression softening into something that makes Baekhyun’s breath catch. When he looks up after a small eternity, his eyes are filled with far more affection than a simple note in neon pink characters on a used napkin should deserve.

 _If today taught me anything, it’s that I’d follow you anywhere you wanted me to go. You have a very roundabout way of saying it, but I get your message. Me too, Kyungsoo. I love you too._  
_For the rest of our lives, let’s go to many more places together, okay?_

Gently, Kyungsoo places the napkin on the nightstand, using his glasses as a paperweight. Once it’s safely out of the way, Kyungsoo cups a palm against Baekhyun’s cheek and Baekhyun expects Kyungsoo to kiss him, but he doesn’t. He just… stares.

“Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun tries, and Kyungsoo's thumb slips over his parted lips, silencing them.

“I love you. I missed you.” Kyungsoo says steadily, and all the air punches out of Baekhyun’s lungs. “While you were gone, every single place I went, I thought of you. Would Baekhyun like this? What would he order? What would he say? It never stopped.”

Kyungsoo kisses Baekhyun then, as if he can’t resist it any longer, even though he’s still talking. Against Baekhyun’s mouth, he continues, “To tell you I love you doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

Baekhyun makes a bewildered, happy sort of noise, but most of it is muffled by Kyungsoo’s lips on his, and Baekhyun momentarily gives up on any kind of verbal response.

“Anyone else—” Baekhyun says, once they’re both capable of speaking again, “Would have bought me flowers. Or taken me for a nice dinner. But you, you write me this complicated map of a love letter, to remind me that I’ve loved you in every single corner of this city.  As if I didn’t already know that.”    
  
Baekhyun traces the fine hairs on Kyungsoo's arm, silver beneath the moonlight.  He shifts, settling against Kyungsoo's chest and Kyungsoo curls an arm around him, automatic. Everything is pretty, perfect, good. "Hey, Kyungsoo?  I take it back.  The moon looks wonderful tonight."

Kyungsoo laughs.

“Yeah, it's beautiful. Goodnight Baekhyun, I’m really glad you’re home.” He murmurs, and Baekhyun closes his eyes. This is where he belongs, Kyungsoo warm and real beside him in an apartment they can call their own, and he wouldn't trade it for any other place in the world.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. **Sleet** by Ki Hyung-do  
>  2\. **Blank Paper: Part One** by Shin Dal-ja  
>  3\. **Brightness (1935)** by Kim Yeong-nang  
>  4\. **Love: Making a Long Distance Phone Call** by Moon In-soo  
>  5\. **月がきれい** phrase by Natsume Soseki
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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